The Depth of Darkness
by When the clock strikes twelve
Summary: Safiyah Titilayo is an African refugee who has lived with her brother in an estate in London since she was four. She had magic like her brother but because he hadn't gone to Hogwarts she assumed she wouldn't. However when she gets her letter she goes with her best friend Lilavati Mista (Misty) where dark creatures old ghosts and Cedric D seem to pop up. Mostly canon - some changes
1. Chapter 1: Charity

The Depth of Darkness

Charity

Safiyah sat bolt upright her thin blanket falling off of her. She had had a nightmare. She had nightmares quite often, but even so, they always had the same effect on her and every time she wouldn't be able to fall back to sleep again for a few hours. She looked at her alarm clock which told her that it was nine o'clock.

Nine o'clock! She was late for school. She leaped out of bed and was halfway to her cupboard when she remembered that it was the 28th of July; she didn't have school.

She collapsed back onto her bed but sleep decided that it didn't feel like coming back so she decided to get up for real this time.

"Kel?" she called, but got no reply. She checked her brother's room but he wasn't there. He must have gone to work already. Kelile Titilayo worked part-time jobs in both the muggle and wizarding worlds. He worked mornings in some office in the centre of the city and then in the afternoons he would pull on his red and grey work robes and head to Diagon Alley where he helped with the accounts at Bronco's Broomsticks.

It was Friday today, which meant that Kel would spend the few galleons that he was given at the Leaky Cauldron on the way home. He was under the impression that magical money wasn't of any use to them. Their four-room council apartment was free and the muggle money he earned was all they needed.

Safiyah didn't like Kel when he was drunk; in fact, she was positively scared of him. He would get violent and Safiyah still had some scars to remind her of this. Even though she was only eleven years old she knew what alcohol could do to someone and she knew to avoid it.

Kel wasn't a violent brother but he was under a lot of pressure and when he was drunk he had no control over his actions. The few times he had hurt her had never been too serious and he would always nurse her back to health the next day.

If truth be told, it was often the other way round. Kel would pick a fight with someone on the way back and when he returned Safiyah would have to tend to his injuries. Usually though she would simply go to her room early and start reading. Sometimes she would go over to the neighbouring flat and spend the night there.

Their neighbours were a large family called the Mistas with six children. The father worked nights as a janitor, repairman and general handyman at the Ministry of Magic and slept days. Their fifth child Lilavati Mista who Safiyah called Misty was eleven as well and was Safiyah's best friend.

The only other person at Safiyah's school who was from a magical background, Misty and Safiyah had been drawn to each other as soon as Safiyah had arrived at East Hammersmith Primary School when she had moved to England when Safiyah was four.

Moved might not have been the best word as Safiyah, Kel and their mother Kamaria had been evacuated from their homeland in South Western African due to the war that had been going on.

Safiyah didn't know much about her homeland; she had only been four when they left. Their mother used to tell her stories about how beautiful it was before the war, but she had died only two years after they had arrived.

Kelile who was eighteen at the time took over the time and he almost never spoke of their homeland. In fact Safiyah had even forgotten what it was called and looking at a map never helped because the muggle countries were different to the wizarding ones in Africa.

Safiyah headed to the room which they used as a kitchen and living room and started to prepare a bowl of cereal. When she opened the fridge she discovered that they had no milk left, which as far as Safiyah was concerned was one of the worst things possible that could happen.

She decided to go next door and see if they had any that they could lend her. It didn't take her long to walk the five or so concrete metres between their two apartments. When she knocked the door was opened almost immediately by Kavi Mista, the fourth child, who attended a school of magic called Hogwarts, which Misty would be going to at the end of the summer, which Safiyah was upset about.

As soon as Kavi saw who it was he let her in; Safiyah and Kel were always welcome into the house by the mother Sahila who had pretty much added them to her long list of children. Kel was in fact with the eldest child, Manikya, who everyone called Manny.

Safiyah headed for the kitchen where Sahila was trying to fend off her youngest son.

"Good morning, Safiyah," she greeted. "Lilavati has gone to get the mail, she should be back soon."

"Morning Mrs Mista, I was act-," Safiyah started before she was cut off by the Indian woman.

"I've told you a hundred times, child, call me Sahila," she scolded.

"Can I call you Sahila," piped up Pari, the sixth and youngest child.

"No, you can call me mama and you can also go do your chores," Sahila answered him and the child huffed off.

"Urgh, sorry Sahila, please can I borrow some milk?"

"Of course you can! What's ours is yours, girl," she cried, moving out of the way of the fridge.

Safiyah plucked a bottle of milk off the shelf and headed out of the noisy flat, but not before Sahila told her to keep the milk. She was soon back in her own room munching on a bowl of cheerio's whilst thinking of something to do until three o'clock when her favourite TV show was aired.

She ran out of cereal before she could decide and so for something else to do she decided to fetch the post.

The post boxes were all at the front of their block and because they were at the far end on the fifth floor, Safiyah had quite a walk.

It had clearly been too long since someone had checked the post as the box was full of flyers and adverts. Safiyah scooped up the whole lot; some of the adverts might be useful and who knew there might be a real letter buried beneath all the junk.

When she got back to her flat she piled everything up onto the small table in the kitchen and started sorting through the leaflets.

There were a lot of leaflets and it was towards the end when she had just added a discount voucher offering sixty percent off all pizzas at Pizza Hut to the keep pile when something caught her eye.

Behind a flyer offering laser eye surgery there was a corner of yellowing paper visible. Curiosity piqued at the presence of a real letter Safiyah threw the rest of the leaflets into the discard pile and picked up the envelope, which definitely wasn't paper; it was thicker and rougher. It reminded Safiyah of the stuff that they used instead of paper at this Hogwarts School. She had seen Vanaja (Misty's sister) and Kavi use it sometimes.

Neither Kel nor Manny had gone to Hogwarts; they had both been too old when they arrived in England. As had Ellu, the second oldest of the Mista siblings.

The letter was addressed in emerald green to:  
_Safiyah Titilayo  
Apartment 510  
Third Floor  
Bearing Council Estate D  
East Hammersmith  
London_

The letter was for her? She had barely ever received letters in the past and so this made Safiyah even more curious. She opened the envelope, trying not to tear it, but failing just at the last second. She pulled the letter from within the envelope, which was also written on the heavy yellowy paper.

Safiyah had never expected to go to Hogwarts because her brother hadn't but as soon as she read the second line of the letter (the first being _Dear Miss Titilayo,_) she was proved wrong.

When she finished reading the letter Safiyah didn't know what to do. It had told her that because her parents or any other had not attended Hogwarts a representative would arrive the next day to help her obtain all the necessary equipment. So until then she would simply have to wait.

She knew she would have to tell Kel when he got back, which would mean talking to him while he was drunk. That was never fun.

In the meantime she decided to go and tell Misty who was also expecting a Hogwarts letter. The thought struck Safiyah that she might have gotten her letter today as well and so she doubled her pace to get to apartment 509.

As soon as she opened the door she knew that Misty had gotten her letter; everybody, except Manny and Ellu, had crowded into their significantly larger kitchen, even the father Firaas had gotten up for the occasion.

Sahila spotted Safiyah and beckoned for her to join them. "Lilavati has just gotten her Hogwarts letter," she told her proudly.

"I thought she had," Safiyah said.

"You did?" she asked.

In response Safiyah held up her own Hogwarts letter.

"No," said Sahila.

"What is it? What's happened?" Misty asked from behind Safiyah, who turned around to see her best friend standing between Kavi and Vanaja.

"Oh Lilavati, Safiyah is going to Hogwarts too," Sahila announced.

The look on Misty's face was priceless.

The rest of Safiyah's afternoon was spent at Misty's house with most of her family except her two oldest siblings who were at work. When she finally did return home she was far fuller than she had ever been before. Sahila didn't cook very often – everyone had to make their own food in the Mista household – but when she did her food was fit for kings. Safiyah was told that the food at Hogwarts was even better.

Her brother was still out and so she busied herself preparing him a small dinner; if she had to talk to him whilst drunk she might as well make it easier on herself by bribing him with some pasta and cheese.

She had just added the pasta short, twirly pieces of various shades of yellow and orange, when Kel staggered through the door. Safiyah could tell from his smell that he had drunk a lot even by his standards, but when she looked at him, the lack of fresh bruises assured her that he hadn't gotten into a fight; although there were plenty of old 'battle wounds' as Misty like to call them.

Kel looked towards the saucepan of boiling water. "Wassat?"

"Dinner," Safiyah replied simply, forcing a smile.

Kel narrowed his eyes. "Whaffor?"

"It's for eating."

Safiyah's brother slammed his hand onto the counter, making Safiyah release a terrified squeal. "What's happened?" his deep voice suddenly clear as crystal.

"I got a letter…" Kel merely stared at her so she continued, "…from Hogwarts. They want me to go," she finished tremulously. The bubble of joy and excitement which had seemed so unburstable a few minutes ago had just burst.

"They do, do they?" Kel asked darkly and Safiyah nodded. There was silence for a moment before Kel said. "This is not the way of our people."

If truth be told, Safiyah had never felt like she was foreign, or from a different culture. She had been raised in London from the age of four and the memories she did have of Africa were few and often fearful. She had said this once before in front of Kel and he had gotten very angry with her; he was very defensive about their homeland. In the end Safiyah decided to play it safe and not say anything.

Her silence prompted another outburst from Kelile. "Will you go? Huh? Will you? Do you want to wave stupid wooden sticks that would be frowned upon in our homeland?" Safiyah didn't answer. "Say something!" Kel ordered her, his voice getting louder.

"You talk about our 'homeland'," Safiyah said quietly, "but this is my home! Here in London and England is _my_ homeland."

"Is that what you think? Are you so ungrateful to your ancestors that you will forsake their ways so quickly?"

"Their ways are not my ways," Safiyah answered. "I am not one of them anymore; I am British now and so are you." She thought that what she had said was very adult and intelligent and that it should have won the argument.

Kelile, it seemed, was too drunk to agree and a second later his hand came whistling through the air, slapping her hard on the cheek and ear. Tears filled Safiyah's eyes and spilled over to run down her cheeks.

As she turned to the door she noticed that the pasta water was boiling over, but she didn't care. By the time she reached the door it had burst open and as soon as she was outside she ran along past all the doors until she reached the stairs. She jumped down the levels until she was in the courtyard.

Here she headed towards the line of bushed near the entrance. Halfway along she found the hole in the foliage and clambered into it, curling up into a ball deep within the bush.

Safiyah couldn't remember the first time she had used that spot, but she could remember hiding in there whenever she was scared or afraid. She thought of it as her secret safe spot and she had never been disturbed while she was in there.

As soon as she was nestled within its branches Safiyah started to cry in earnest: no longer just tears, but sobs as well.

The long July day slowly drew to a close but Safiyah remained where she was long after the tears had dried up. She had spent the night in her hole before; it was perfectly warm enough in the summer, although in the winter months she usually had to head home.

She saw someone's silhouette appear through the leaves and she tried not to make a sound; but as luck would have it she felt an itch in her throat at that exact time and she suddenly started coughing madly. The silhouette stopped and then moved towards Safiyah who was still coughing and trying desperately to stop, which only made it worse.

A familiar face appeared at the hole: it was Manny, Misty's older brother. He looked at Safiyah for a moment before clearing his throat and saying, "Is there a reason you're hiding in a bush at nine o'clock in the evening.

Safiyah didn't answer.

"Are you going to get out?"

"Yes," she replied and Manny moved away so that she could jump back out of the hole.

"What happened to you?" he asked as soon as he saw her face. Although she didn't know it, Kel's slap had left its mark: her left eye had swollen and her entire cheekbone was now bruised.

"Nothing," she said quickly; she did not want to involve Kelile.

"Did your brother do this to you?"

"No! I… I fell," she lied.

"Then why were you hiding in a bush?"

Safiyah couldn't think of anything to say to that so she thought she might as well admit it. "Please don't tell anyone," she pleaded.

"Don't worry, I'll tell my mother you fell."

"Your mother?"

"Well I'm not going to take you back to your brother and I'm definitely not leaving you out here!" he told her. "We'll tell her that you couldn't sleep so you went for a walk but you fell down the stairs and you couldn't go home because… Kel was too drunk to wake up when you rang the bell," Manny told her.

"Thank you," Safiyah said.

Ten minutes later and Safiyah was being told off by Sahila. "You should have come straight here! You didn't to wait for Manny to find you." An hour or so later she was fast asleep on their sofa.

Sometime during the night Kel, who was now sober came over and took Safiyah back to their flat. Safiyah wasn't really awake so she let herself be directed to her bed and when she woke up the next morning it took her a few minutes to remember how she'd gotten there.

When she looked around to see what had woken up she saw her door slightly open and her brother's head poking around it. "Can I come in?" he asked gently. Safiyah nodded and Kel came in and sat on the end of her bed. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," she said shortly.

"You don't want to talk about it, do you?" he asked.

"Do you?" Safiyah asked.

"No," Kel admitted.

"Then let's not," Safiyah said.

"That was easier than I'd expected," Kel admitted, Safiyah smiled at him for an answer. "I just wanted to say, that I'm sorry."

"Kel, don't," Safiyah interrupted him.

"No, Safiyah. I'm sorry and- and you can go if you want; I won't stop you."

Safiyah hadn't expected this. "You won't?"

"No. You were right; I just couldn't see it."

"I think that's the first time you've admitted I was right," Safiyah remarked and Kel grinned.

"I do try," he joked as he got up and left her room.

A few hours later Safiyah was curled up in a ball reading a book, without really reading it; her eyes were just sliding over the words without taking them in. Her thoughts were on Hogwarts and what things would be like there.

She had heard about it from Vanaja and Kavi but even so it was a lot of fun to imagine what adventures she would have herself when she was there.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud knocking at the door. "I'll get it!" she called to Kel who was in his room. She made her way to the door and pulled it open.

Standing on the other side was a very odd-looking woman she had never seen before in her life. She had shoulder-length blonde hair and eyes somewhere between grey and blue. But what was odd about her was that she was wearing a tall pointy hat and matching emerald robes.

"Can I help you?" Safiyah asked nervously; she didn't like strangers.

"That depends. Are you Safiyah Titilayo?" the woman asked. Safiyah was very apprehensive now.

"Yes," she answered slowly.

"Good," she said brusquely. "I'm Professor Babbling, from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and I'm here to help you prepare for Hogwarts and to speak to any familiar members that might not understand what's happening."

"Okay," Safiyah said uncertainly. "Would you like to come in?"

"Thank you," Professor Babbling answered; she seemed a little surprised at Safiyah's offer. "You know most muggle families aren't so gracious."

"Muggle – that means non-magical, right?" Safiyah asked. She had heard the term used before; but because their lifestyle was so 'muggle' it hadn't really come up before.

"Yes," said Professor Babbling a little taken aback.

"We're not muggles," Safiyah explained.

"But no Titilayo has ever gone to Hogwarts before, or any other magic school."

"We arrived here from Africa seven years ago," Kel had come out of his room. "Sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"Bathsheda Babbling," Professor Babbling answered. "I teach at Hogwarts and I'm here to help your daughter get her things."

"Safiyah is my sister," Kel told her before heading over to Safiyah.

"Are you sure you're alright with this, Kel?" she asked.

"I'm sure. Now go," he answered before giving her a hug.

"You can come as well," Professor Babbling informed Kel.

"No thank you, this is one of the few days when I don't have to go to Diagon Alley," Kel answered. "I work there," he told Professor Babbling when she gave him a bemused look."

"Very well, we should be back before five, half-past at the latest." Kel nodded his agreement and Professor Babbling stood by the door as Safiyah put her shoes on. She was very excited about going to Diagon Alley; she had been before of course, but this time was going to be different because she would be getting ready for Hogwarts.

Luckily Diagon Alley was only ten minutes' walk from their flat and so the awkwardly silent walk didn't last long. Safiyah supposed that Professor Babbling was used to telling to people about magic and she was sure that a muggle child would have hundreds of questions but her head was empty.

Safiyah couldn't stand the silence so she decided to try and make conversation. "What do you teach at Hogwarts, professor?"

"I teach Ancient Runes and Ancient Studies," she answered. "They're electives."

"What are electives?" Safiyah asked.

"Their subjects that you choose to do at the end of your second year," Professor Babbling answered.

The two of them talked about Hogwarts subjects until they reached the Leaky Cauldron. It wasn't the most conversation Safiyah had ever had but she supposed it would come in handy when she was at Hogwarts.

Once they reached the Leaky Cauldron Professor Babbling seemed to relax; she clearly was not used to being surrounded by muggles. "Right," she said, "can I see your list please?" Safiyah pulled the parchment from her jeans pocket and handed it to her. "Have you ever been here before?" she asked Safiyah.

"Yeah I have."

"Okay do you think if I gave you the money you could go get your robes and a wand? Only it's a long list and those are the two things that take the longest."

"I can do that," Safiyah said.

"Good, good," Professor Babbling handed her a small sack which jingled merrily. "I'll meet you outside Ollivander's." With that she whisked away up the street.

"Robes," Safiyah muttered to herself trying to remember where Madam Malkin's was. Fortunately a gap appeared in the crowd and she saw that it was directly opposite her.

She hurried across to it, trying not to get carried away by the large crowd of eager shoppers and reluctant children. The shop itself was quite full, so Safiyah had to wait in line behind a relatively tall blond boy and his parents for ten minutes. Finally she got to the front of the line.

"Hogwarts?" a pretty young assistant asked her.

"Yes," Safiyah answered quickly. She could tell the woman was in a hurry.

She was led to a stool and the assistant started measuring her very quickly. After a bit she brought over a set of black robes and pulled them over Safiyah's head; the robes were far too big but the woman started pinning it back and five minutes later three pairs of robes had been cut and pinned to Safiyah's size.

"Would you like the Hogwarts package deal?" the woman asked.

"What's that?"

"Three black work robes, pointed hat, black cloak, white shirt, grey jumper, two grey pleated skirts and two pairs of leisure robes."

"Yes please," Safiyah said eagerly. If she remembered that was everything she needed and more.

"What colour robes would you like?"

"One purple and one yellow please," she answered.

"We're out of purple."

"Could I have pale grey then?"

"Of course you can." The woman whizzed off and was back very quickly with two more sets of robes as well as the wizard's hat, the cloak, the jumper and the skirts. "That's 25 galleons please."

Safiyah opened the money bag that Professor Babbling had given her and counted out the galleons out into the outstretched hand of the witch.

"…twenty-four…twenty-five. Thank you," Safiyah finished.

The witch smiled and handed over the large bag of clothing, which was surprisingly light. "It's enchanted," the witch told her giving her cheeky wink. "Right, let's go find out whose next." She shot off back to the front of the shop and Safiyah followed at a slightly slower pace.

When she was outside Safiyah looked around hoping that Ollivander's would also be right there. It wasn't but she had a feeling that it was up towards Gringotts. The blond boy and his family emerged from the shop and Safiyah decided to ask them. "Excuse me," she said her voice, slightly higher than usual. "Do you know where Ollivander's is?"

"Oh, well we were just going there ourselves," the mother answered. "We can show you," she offered.

"Thank you" she said. Safiyah didn't normally follow strangers but she was pretty sure that this boy would be in her year at Hogwarts so she felt she might as well.

"Are you all alone?" the father asked.

"No," Safiyah started before thinking about how to finish that sentence. "We've split to do things more quickly," she finished.

"Where are my manners?" the mother explained. "I'm Laura Cahill and this is my husband Edmund Mason and this is our son Nick," she introduced.

"Oh, hi, I'm Safiyah Titilayo," she said.

"Well it's nice to meet you Sophie," the Mrs Cahill said.

"No- not Sophie, Safiyah as in sir," she corrected.

"I'm sorry, my mistake. Is that African?" she asked.

"I think so," Safiyah answered.

"Are you going to Hogwarts?" Nick asked.

"Yeah, I'm really excited," Safiyah answered.

"Me too, it's gonna be so much fun."

"Best years of my life were at Hogwarts," Mr Mason told them. "But it's not all fun and games; you have to work as well because otherwise there's no point."

"If I remember you never did any of your work," Mrs Cahill retorted.

"I didn't have to… _I_ was in Gryffindor. People like us anyway."

"And if Nick is in Gryffindor will you want him to shirk all of his work?"

"If Nick is in Gryffindor I will be sitting pretty with a hundred galleons."

"You've bet on which house I'm going to be in?" Nick asked them.

"Yeah," Mr Mason answered honestly.

"But we'll be proud of you no matter what house you're in," Mrs Cahill promised him.

"If you're sorted into Ravenclaw I'll disown you," Mr Mason warned him but when he saw the horrified expression on Nick's face he relented. "I'm just joking, but you would owe me a hundred galleons if you are." Nick laughed.

"What if I'm in neither?" he asked.

"That'll just be awkward," his dad answered.

"If you have to be in a different, please make it Hufflepuff," Mrs Cahill told him.

"Laura! Even though I agree with you, what happened to being proud no matter what?" Mr Mason asked laughing.

"Damn it, I thought you weren't listening," she smiled and then looked at Nick. "Slytherin is fine honey." Nick didn't seem to mind though; he was obviously used to his parents' banter.

"What house do you want to be in Safiyah?" Nick asked.

Safiyah who had been enjoying watching the family was taken aback by the question. All of Misty's family was in Gryffindor and she supposed she wanted to be with them; although Hufflepuffs were supposed to be really nice. "Gryffindor," she decided and Mr Mason cheered. "Although Hufflepuff wouldn't be bad," she concluded.

"I greatly approve of your decision," Mr Mason told her.

"Yeah, sorry mum, but I think I agree with Safiyah on this one," Nick admitted.

Mr Mason looked absolutely delighted. "He unhooked his moneybag from his belt and opened it. "You know, Laura, I think there's just room for one hundred galleons, in here."

"Put it away, Edmund. He hasn't been sorted yet."

"You know," Nick said. "I hope I get put in Slytherin!"

"No," both of his parents said at once.

They had reached Ollivander's by this point and as soon as the four of them stepped inside of the shop a hush fell over them. Safiyah waited in silence as Nick was measured and then tested out wands. Twenty-six wands had passed before something strange happened; as soon as Nick picked up the wand the whole room seemed to warm up for a second.

Mr Mason paid for the wand and the three of them left the shop saying their goodbyes to Safiyah who assured them she would be fine. Mr Ollivander was a very strange man; he hardly ever spoke and when he did it would be to make comments such as, "How strange," or "No, no, no."

Safiyah was on her 23rd wand when she once again experienced the sudden rush of warmth, except this time, it came from her hand and lasted longer.

"Eleven and three quarter inches, unicorn hair and the mixed woods of pine and zebrawood," Mr Ollivander informed her. "A wand built for healing."

Safiyah handed over seven galleons for the wand. She knew she was supposed to wait inside Ollivander's, but the shop creeped her out slightly so she decided to wait outside. She noticed a stand a little up the street with a large sign reading '_Authentic Belgian Waffles – Sixteen Silver Sickles'_. She thought she might go over and buy one. She decided she would but when she did, she checked the money bag she discovered that she had spent all the money that Professor Babbling had given her. The woman behind the stand smiled at her and said, "Well I've made it now," and handed her the waffle for nothing.

Safiyah returned to sit outside Ollivander's happily eating her waffle, which turned out not to be as tasty as it looked. She finished it nevertheless as the witch who had given it to her for free was only a few metres away.

It wasn't long before Professor Babbling returned holding several heavy-looking bags of her own. From there Professor Babbling led her back to the Leaky Cauldron. "I can make my own way back from here," Safiyah said.

"Leaving you alone in Diagon Alley is one thing Miss Titilayo, but I'm not going to abandon you in the middle of muggle London," Professor Babbling said reproachfully before heading out the front door of the grubby pub.

"Did you get everything alright?" Professor Babbling asked.

"I'm pretty sure I got everything on the list," Safiyah said hesitantly.

"Well, if you do find you have forgotten something, you can probably go Diagon Alley with your brother," she suggested and Safiyah agreed.

When they got back Safiyah once again eyed up all the large bags… how would she get them all to Hogwarts? "If you want, I can take some of this to Hogwarts with me where it will be put into your dorm once you are sorted." It was as though Professor Babbling had read her mind.

"That would be really helpful," Safiyah enthused happily. "I'd like to take some of it back with me though, if that's ok."

Professor Babbling sniffed and nodded. "Of course you can, it is _yours_ after all."

"Could I just take some of the books?" Professor Babbling steadily lowered the bags to the floor before carefully extricating one very heavy looking one. "Here you go," she said offering Safiyah the bag.

She peered into the bag and saw eight, thick, leather-bound tomes. She lifted the bag but it too must have been enchanted for it was much lighter than it should have been.

Safiyah said goodbye to Professor Babbling and let herself back into her house. Her brother wasn't there so she went to her room and dropped off all of her stuff. She delved into the bag of eight books and pulled one out at random.

"Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," she read to herself before shrugging and opening to the first page. She started reading the introduction but she was lost before she had even begun.

"Saf?" she heard her brother call.

"I'm here," she called back to him.

"I've got something for you," he told her and curiosity spreading through her veins she jumped off her bed and scurried across her room.

She opened her door and jumped when she found her brother standing right outside. "What is it?" she asked eagerly.

"What would you do with five hundred pounds?" he asked grinning broadly.

Safiyah looked at him for about ten seconds, by the end of which she thought she saw a little concern in her brother's face. "Five hundred pounds," Safiyah said slowly. "For me? You're giving me _five hundred _pounds?"

"No," Kel admitted and Safiyah felt like hitting him. "I'm giving you five thousand pounds."

"What?" Safiyah asked incredulously. Kel smile at her and pulled a cheque out from behind his back. "Kel, we have no money! Where did you get this?"

"I've been saving it up for a while; it was going to be your university fund, but something tells me you won't be going to university."

Safiyah couldn't say anything. All she could do was laugh and soon her brother was laughing with her. Eventually she calmed down enough to say, "Let's share it. Next week we'll go to Gringotts and we'll open an account. That way we can buy magical stuff; they sell pretty cool stuff in Diagon Alley."

"I know that, I do work there," Kel joked.

**Author's Note:**

**Okay here goes another story. I'm taking a different approach on this one. I'm planning it this time which hopefully means updates might be more regular and there will be less continuity errors.**

**I have the first ten chapters (until the end of the first year) planned out in some detail. As always I'm sure there will be things that I want to include at the last minute but I'm hoping it means I won't be stuck for ages thinking of something to write.**

**If any of you read Silver Lining, I kept accidentally writing Lillie instead of Safiyah but I've checked and I'm pretty sure I caught it every time.**

**I was originally going to use Professor Burbage but I discovered that she only started teaching at Hogwarts in Safiyah's third year.**

**For those of you who came because this is an OC/Cedric fic, don't worry, he appears later on in the year and he will grow in importance over the course of the story. Kind of like Neville or Ginny or Luna.**


	2. Chapter 2: Give and Take

The Depth of Darkness

Give and Take

_Chaos reigned around them. Safiyah was huddled up tight to mama and Kelile was a short distance away. Their father was nowhere to be seen._

_It was pitch black, but without sight all of the four year-old's senses had heightened and she could hear screams and explosions._

_Every now and then one of the explosions would be so close to them that the whole place would suddenly glow and Safiyah could see the deep gash on the side of mama's face. But as soon as she made it out the flash of light would be gone._

_Another explosion. Another scream. It had been like this for as long as Safiyah could remember. When he was around, her father would tell her stories about what it was like before the war._

_Safiyah tried to picture what he said, she had been alive after all, but the war had started when she was only eighteen months old so memories were not exactly readily available._

_Silence. It wasn't just the explosions that had stopped; there were no screams, no shouts and not even the sound of a baby crying. The loudest sound was Kel's laboured breathing; mama said that he had been hurt badly by the bad men._

_There was noise from just outside the door and Safiyah felt mama's arms tighten around her. But when the door opened it was her father, but something was wrong._

Safiyah sat straight up looking at her door but there was nothing unusual about it and so she shook off the feeling that someone was about to open it. Today was the day that she and Kel were going to Diagon Alley to spend the money that he had saved.

She stretched and made a noise startlingly like a cat before rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and dragging herself out of her bed. She knew she must have just had one of her nightmares but she couldn't remember it. She never could.

She grabbed a towel and left her room, leaving the door open behind her, but she could hear the shower running. She knocked on the door.

"What?" it was Kel.

"Hurry up, you're not the only one living here," Safiyah called to him.

"I literally just got here," he moaned.

"Okay, I'll wait," Safiyah said as though it was the biggest thing in the world. She headed into the kitchen and opened the cupboard below the sink. She reached in and dislodged a thick A4 envelope from behind the pipes and tubing. Inside there were five thousand pounds.

She had never even dreamed of having that much money. She wanted to open it and look at the plethora of notes but she knew she shouldn't so she replaced it just as Kel came out of the bathroom wearing a towel and boxers. "It's all yours," he said.

…

A couple of hours later the time had come for the pair of them to make the trip to Diagon Alley. Safiyah was wearing her favourite t-shirt: white with a noughts and crosses pattern. It had been Kel's but he had outgrown it and so now it was hers. It was far too big but still very comfortable.

They made the trip in silence Kel had the envelope in a briefcase which he was holding very tightly. Safiyah couldn't blame him; she doubted he'd ever had half so much money before.

When they entered the Leaky Cauldron, the barman, who scared Safiyah, immediately moved towards Kelile who held up his hand and wordlessly moved on. "I've had enough with drinking," he said to Safiyah, who was pleased to hear it, but also somewhat sceptical.

As soon as they were on Diagon Alley they were weaving their way through the Saturday shoppers trying to find as direct a route as possible to the large stone bank.

Safiyah had only been in the bank once before so the splendour still amazed her. As soon as they were inside, the noise of the street seemed to die down, replaced by the gentle clinking of jewels, the subtle clash of coins and the scratching of quills. They moved towards the nearest empty help desk.

"What can I do for you?" the goblin behind the counter asked pointlessly.

"I'd like to set up an account," Kel replied calmly.

"Sindak!" the goblin cried and another goblin appeared from behind a door.

"What is it?" Sindak asked.

"This one wants to open an account," the first goblin explained before getting off his stool.

"Do you have any money?" Sindak asked as he sat down.

"Do you accept pounds?"

"We accept all currencies," the goblin announced proudly.

"Good." Kel smiled, tilting his head slightly and reached into the briefcase. He pulled out the envelope and placed it on the counter.

Sindak sneered and reached for the envelope, opening it using a long yellow nail as a knife. He looked slightly taken aback when he saw the contents and he reached in and pulled out one of the notes, examining it closely. He shot a look at Kelile and another one at Saf before pulling out another note and examining that too. "Everything seems to be in order. Now we'll just need you to fill out the documentation."

For the next half hour Kelile filled out form after form. They kept asking him for certain documents but he seemed to have everything he needed in his briefcase.

"Well, that's settled then," Sindak finally said. "Do you desire to withdraw any money before you leave?"

"I think one hundreds galleons should do," Kel answered. The money had been changed to 1000 galleons in total. The goblin raised its eyebrows. "Okay then 50," Kel conceded, chuckling slightly. He obviously wasn't used to this.

The goblin handed over a large bag of gold which Kelile received happily and he lead the way into the crowded street.

Kelile shook the bag suggestively. "Where do you think we should go first?"

…

In the end they decided that the first thing they would do was buy an owl; Safiyah had always wanted an owl and Kel decided that it would be a good way to stay in contact while Safiyah was away. Then Kel decided he needed some robes as he reckoned he would probably be spending more time in Diagon Alley in the foreseeable future.

They left the shop with two bundles, a lilac one for Safiyah and a light chestnut brown for Kel and then they went to Florean Fortescue's ice cream parlour where Kel bought them both large sundaes.

Soon it was time to go home and so Kel and Safiyah ambled their way contently down the street. They were just walking past the apothecary when a woman who looked to be in her twenties with frizzy auburn hair that hung down past her waist sneered at them.

"Look at the monkeys walk," she said to the woman beside her, just loud enough so Safiyah and Kelile could hear. Then she addressed them full on, "There are no trees here."

Safiyah saw the muscles tense in Kel's neck as he turned to face the woman. "Excuse me?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"It doesn't even understand English," the woman crowed.

Kel lost it. He marched right up to the frizzy-haired woman and pulled her away from the wall as her friend screamed for help. "What is your problem?" Kel yelled at the frizzy-haired woman who was now cowering away from him. "Now who doesn't understand English?" Kel cried sarcastically, before shoving her violently.

The woman released a cry while her friend kept screaming for help. Kel pushed the woman once more with enough force this time to knock her to the ground. He raised his fist but suddenly someone grabbed him from behind snaking their arms under his armpits and pushing down on the back of his head.

Kel struggled against the hold but he couldn't do anything and Safiyah looked at the man for the first time. He looked about eighteen or nineteen, he was tall and muscled with short black hair and he was wearing a tight black t-shirt and black trousers; which stuck out from the colourful robes that surrounded them.

What happened next blurred in Safiyah's memory. The man somehow managed to stop Kel moving and he began to lead him away. Safiyah ran after him and when she caught up with him he smiled. "How can I help you?" he asked.

"That's my brother!" Safiyah cried. "What are you doing with him?"

"Don't worry he'll be alright," the man comforted her. "I was just protecting that woman. So he's your brother?" he asked eyeing Kel.

"Yes," Safiyah said quickly.

"Where are your parents?" he asked suddenly.

Safiyah's throat tightened a little making her stutter, "They're- We- We don't have any parents."

"Oh, well who looks after you?"

"Kel does," Safiyah said pointing at her brother's unmoving form. "But our neighbours look after me when he's… away."

"Away? Do you mean this has happened before?" the man, who Safiyah started to suspect was a police officer of some sort, asked.

"Yes," she answered quietly.

The man sighed. "Okay, tell you what, you come with me to the Ministry where my colleagues will deal with your brother and then I'll drop you off at your neighbours." His tone was kind but firm, indicating that Safiyah didn't have a choice.

"Okay."

The man then led Safiyah back towards the Leaky Cauldron but he turned off down a side-street which was angled steeply downwards. Down, down, down they went until the rest of the streets were far above they heads. Eventually the path levelled out and there the man turned to the left and opened a door that Safiyah would never have seen if she hadn't been led right into it.

Safiyah couldn't really remember the ministry well; a lot of people and a lot of paper everywhere and everyone seemed to be very busy. Eventually, the man gave Kel, who was still immobile, over to one of his colleagues and then led Safiyah back to Diagon Alley.

"Do you know how to get to your neighbour's house?" he asked.

"I think so. It's just in East Hammersmith, the Bearing Estates," she replied.

"I know how to get there," the officer told her.

At first Safiyah asked him what they would do with Kel and when they would give him back, to which the man replied that they were going to question him for now and then probably hold him in custody for a month or two. Safiyah told him that it wasn't Kel's fault and she told him what the woman had said.

"She is the daughter of a very rich wizard, we have to be harsh I'm sorry, otherwise he'll come over and start giving us all kinds of trouble," he explained.

"Will Kel at least be allowed to come back just to drop me off at school?"

"Do you go to Hogwarts?"

"I'm about to start my first year," Safiyah said, excitement overriding her anxiety.

"I doubt your brother will be let out. But if you want I can come over and get you to King's Cross. My brother Tarquin is starting his seventh year."

"I don't even know your name," Safiyah said. "Anyway I'm sure I can go with my neighbours."

"Leopold Drake, but most people call me Leo. Well if they're alright with it then I'm sure that's fine," he agreed.

"I'm Safiyah," she told him.

"Nice to meet you."

The rest of the journey was silent, but when they reached the flats he crouched down to Safiyah's level and looked her in the eye. "If you change your mind, or if you need anything, your owl will find me. They're very clever creatures."

"We don't have an owl," Safiyah said.

"What's this then?" Leo asked handing her the cage with the tawny owl they'd just bought inside; he must have picked it up earlier.

"Oh, thank you," Safiyah said taking the owl.

"You will contact me if you have any problems, won't you?" He looked worried.

"I will," Safiyah answered, and she meant it.

Leo smiled and straightened up taking a step back as Safiyah knocked on the door of the Mistas' apartment. The door was opened by Vanaja who looked at Safiyah and then did a double take when she saw Leo.

"Leo? What's going on?" she asked.

Leo looked equally surprised and he shook his head before answering. "Safiyah's brother has been taken into custody and she said she could stay with you."

"Oh… um yeah, probably," Vanaja agreed. "Say hi to Tarquin from me," she said before bringing Safiyah inside and closing the door.

"How do you know Leo?" Safiyah asked.

"I'm going out with his brother Tarquin, but don't tell mum. She'll kill me if she finds out."

…

Leo sat alone in the break room sipping at his coffee, a frown on his face and troubles in his thoughts.

"What's wrong, mate?" Leo looked up and saw his best friend Mac standing in the doorway.

"Nothing, I was just thinking about something," Leo answered evasively.

"A girl?" Mac inquired.

"Yeah," Leo admitted without really thinking.

"Nice. Is she hot?"

Leo shot him a withering look. "She's eleven."

Mac laughed slightly. "You might want to, err… consult her parents."

"That's just it, she doesn't have any. All she has is a brother who's just been arrested for assaulting Tylena Jarro."

Mac's face became more serious. "Where is she now?"

"I took her to her neighbour's place. They're looking after her at the moment."

"Listen, man, don't worry about it. I'm sure she's fine. If you're really worried you can go see her. I mean, you know where she is," Mac said.

"She told me she'd write if there were any problems," Leo answered shaking his head. "I dunno. Forget it, I'm just… worried. How was your day, anyway?"

"Boring, I didn't get to break apart any fights."

"How do you know about that?"

"Because Marchland told me that the guy is about to be questioned and to come get you to give a statement," Mac answered.

"Super fun," said Leo sarcastically, chucking his half-full coffee cup into the bun, which squealed when the hot liquid hit it.

…

The rest of the holidays were uneventful, Sahila was used to having Safiyah around and the rest of the family treated her almost like another sister, so it was very easy. Misty and Safiyah spent many summer afternoons in the nearby Ravenscourt Park reading their Hogwarts books or chatting about all the adventures they would have while they were there.

The days passed by and about a week before they were due to go to King's Cross Sahila asked Safiyah when Kel was getting back.

"They said, he was going to be kept for a month at least," Safiyah told her. She didn't like talking about what happened with Kel and so Sahila didn't know the details.

"Then, how are you going to get to the station, girl?"

Safiyah was taken aback, and slightly hurt. "Can't I go with you?" she asked.

"We don't have any room, there are only four seats in the car and we have to take the trunks as well," Sahila explained and Safiyah felt a bit better, although still a little taken aback. "I suppose we could do it in two trips, but then if the traffic is bad, which it always is…" Sahila said, more to herself than to Safiyah.

Just then Leo's words rang in Safiyah's head and she knew she'd found the solution. "It's fine, I know someone who can take me," Safiyah said.

"Who?"

"Leo."

"Who's that?"

"He was the man who brought me back here," Safiyah explained before returning to Misty's bedroom to write a letter to Leo.

…

"Wake up!" Misty was shaking Safiyah.

"What?"

"Sunday, 3rd of September 1989. The day we go to Hogwarts. So get up! Mum's making breakfast." Safiyah smiled as the plump girl bounced away from her.

She did as she was told and soon Safiyah and Misty were eating a small fried breakfast and were soon joined by Vanaja and Kavi.

"Was that it?" Misty asked after finishing.

"From what I hear, you'll want plenty of room for the feast this evening," Sahila answered. "Now everyone go get your trunks and bring them out here."

The four of them all left the table to go get their large heavy trunks. With Manny's help they managed to get all the trunks down into the courtyard. They quickly loaded three of the trunks into Sahila's old car which did not seem all too happy at the load and then the four of them drove off, leaving Safiyah with Manny.

"When is he getting here?" Manny asked her.

"He said around 9.45," Safiyah answered.

"Okay, he should be here any minute."

Just then another car was pulling up outside the block of flats. When it stopped Leo and another guy, shorter and with blond hair stepped out of the car. "That's him there," Safiyah told Manny.

"Okay. Then this is goodbye," he said ruffling her hair.

"Bye Manny, I'll probably see you over the Christmas holidays."

"Probably," agreed Manny before heading back up to his apartment and probably his bed.

Leo introduced the other man as Mac. "Mac's parents are muggles, and they made him learn how to drive and he agreed to help me." The two men easily swung Safiyah's trunk into the boot of the car as Safiyah clambered into the back seat. It wasn't a large car, but Safiyah was pretty small so she fit in easily.

"Ready?" Leo asked.

"Yep!" Safiyah replied, excitement welling up inside her.

They got to King's Cross and Leo and Mac convinced Safiyah to walk through the wall on the platform. "There are the Mistas," Safiyah said pointing to the three children and their mother.

"Okay, well we'll leave you here then," Leo said smiling. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a few coins. "Here," he said, offering them to Safiyah. "It's for the journey. I would say don't spend it all at once, but you might as well." Safiyah grinned and Leo and Mac disappeared into the thickening crowd.

A minute later Safiyah had made her way over to the Mistas where Sahila appeared very relieved and surprised that everything had gone so smoothly.

It was only then that Safiyah actually took in her surroundings. She had been too focused on getting through the solid brick wall to notice how magnificent platform 9¾ was. The ceiling was high and vaulted and intricately carved, almost like the inside of a cathedral. It was definitely large enough to fit a cathedral in anyway.

But by far the most eye-catching feature was the bright scarlet steam train at the head of a line of seven or eight coaches. Safiyah had never seen a steam train before, at least not in real life, and the beautiful beast in front of her was more astounding than she could have expected. On the side of the glistening scarlet train there was gold littering which spelled out: _Hogwarts Express_.

Safiyah was brought back to reality by Misty tugging on her sleeve. "Come on, let's go get good seats," she said and Safiyah nodded. They dragged their trunks towards the locomotive and helped each other heave them onto the train.

As it was still quite early, the train was largely empty and so Safiyah and Misty had pretty much the entire carriage to choose from. They stashed their trunks in one of the luggage compartments and then moved to the head of the coach.

Misty opened the door to a compartment and went in. Safiyah moved to follow but Misty blocked her. "Misty, let me in," Safiyah said.

"No, you go in that compartment," Misty said, pointing at the one opposite.

"Why?" Safiyah asked bemusedly.

"This way we can meet new people. It'll be fun," she urged.

"I don't want to… you know I'm not good with strangers," Safiyah retorted.

"You'll be fine. Come on, don't be such a scaredy-cat," Misty taunted.

"I don't know…"

"Okay, how about this. If you're really having a bad time, I'll only be here so you'll be able to come and join me."

"Misty, please don't make me."

"I won't make you do anything. You know that. I just think it might be a good idea for us to meet new people."

"Okay," Safiyah said reluctantly.

"Yay! Thanks Safiyah," Misty said excitedly, giving her friend a hug. "Oh, I need to go say bye to mum!" she cried and ran off.

Safiyah who had said goodbye to Sahila on the platform sat by the window of the compartment and looked at all the families that had now gathered.

Seeing all the tearful and proud parents saying goodbye to their kids made Safiyah sad that Kel couldn't be there to see her off. But then it made her think about something else, something she barely ever thought of: her parents.

Safiyah had been six years old when their mother had died, but she had gone mad long beforehand. Her insanity had been driven mainly by grief but she couldn't adapt to life in England or among muggles. She had often been reprimanded by the ministry for performing magic in view of muggles.

She had died while Safiyah had been in school; she remembered the head teacher coming into her classroom. Kel had come to pick her up. That night was the first time he got drunk.

As for her father, Safiyah liked to think that he was still alive and that somewhere, somehow he was trying to make his way to her. She never told Kel because she knew he wouldn't want her thinking about things like that.

That was when Safiyah spotted him. He was a boy who looked slightly older than her and Safiyah had never seen anyone who looked so alone. On the entire crowded platform the only gap was the circle around him. His eyes were closed and he wasn't moving.

Safiyah heard a noise behind her, which made her jump. She looked around and saw that Misty had sat down in her own compartment. The chubby girl waved happily at Safiyah who smiled back before turning to look out the window again. The boy was gone.

Safiyah felt an itch at the back of the nose and she had to turn away from the window to sneeze. She looked back to the platform.

She could have screamed. The boy was now only a few feet away from her compartment window and this time his eyes were open and they were staring directly into Safiyah's. His eyes. The iris was black as night from which no light was reflected while the pupil was white as a sheet. But that was the least striking thing about them. They seemed to draw Safiyah in and she couldn't tear her gaze away from them. He seemed to be looking into the deepest depths of her soul; places she didn't even know existed.

She was in a small crowded room that seemed to be swinging.

She was huddled up to her mother's chest.

She was toddling through a plain of yellowing grass that was higher than her.

A man in a large rocking chair was laughing.

The grass was on fire and she was running in the opposite direction.

The sky exploded, the air burned and her eyes roasted.

She could see a packed train platform and the boy was nowhere to be seen. This picture stayed in her mind and she realised that it wasn't a picture; it was reality.

**Author's note:**

**Sorry, this took longer than I expected to post. If you do bother reading this then please review it means a lot.**

**I don't know when the next chapter will be up, hopefully within the next two weeks, but I don't know if that will happen or not.**


	3. Chapter 3: Breaking Silence

The Depth of Darkness

Breaking Silence

Safiyah breathed deeply and sat down. Her palms were sweaty so she wiped them on her skirt. As soon as she thought that her heart rate had returned to normal again she was surprised when the compartment door slid open again and a tall blonde girl walked into the compartment.

"Hello," she said tentatively. "Is it okay if I sit here? I won't disturb you, I'll probably just read," she jittered.

Safiyah forced a smile. "Of course you can. I don't mind."

The blonde girl looked very relieved. "Great. I just need to go and get my uh… yeah," she trailed off before moving off down the hall.

She decided that she might as well change into her Hogwarts robes now that she was on the train and so she went to the bathroom and quickly swapped her brown skirt and green t-shirt for the plain black robes, white shirt and grey skirt that she had taken out of her trunk before she had stowed it away.

Safiyah looked into Misty's compartment on her way back and saw that her friend was deep in conversation with a lean dark girl and two boys with violently ginger hair.

The train had started to fill in earnest now. Safiyah and the blonde girl, whose name was Patricia Stimpson, had barely introduced themselves when two boys slid open the compartment door.

"Are those free?" asked the taller of the two who had long brown hair. The way he asked the question made Safiyah think that he wasn't used to hearing the word no.

Safiyah and Patricia looked at each other for a second before nodding. "Thanks," said the shorter one, who seemed a bit nicer. "I'm Antioch, but most people just call me Ant," the blond boy said.

"I'm Safiyah, it's very nice to meet you," she replied extending her hand towards him.

The other boy reached forward and shook it, making Antioch roll his eyes. "Roger Davies at your service," he said making Antioch and Patricia laugh. Even Safiyah smiled a little. Roger turned to Patricia. "And at yours too," he said winking slightly.

"I'm Patricia," she said nervously. "Patricia Stimpson."

The two boys had barely sat down in the two seats left on Patricia's side when another two boys came in. Both of them were very tall and the one on the left was also skeletally thin making him look slightly skeletal. "I'm Yatin Bhagat," said the thin one, "and this is Puce."

"Puce?" Roger asked, with a slight smirk.

"Simon Pucey," the other boy answered, "and you'd better watch the way you talk." Yatin Bhagat and Simon Pucey sat down on the seats that were between Safiyah and the door.

The atmosphere in the compartment was icy as the four boys stared each other down. Finally Roger spoke. "Now, why would I want to watch the way I speak?"

Safiyah almost preferred the angry silence to what happened next. The boys argued and insulted each other about everything and anything, from Simon Pucey's pug nose to what flavour of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans Was the best.

Every now and then Safiyah would glance at Patricia, who was squashed between Roger Davies and the door, and saw that she looked about as uncomfortable as Safiyah felt. Both girls avoided taking part in the argument and whenever one of the boys demanded their opinion they would usually stammer out an "I don't know."

"How could you support Puddlemere?" Bhagat sneered.

"Excuse me, but we won the league last season."

"You only won because the Chudley Cannon's seeker is a complete imbecile."

The topic had moved onto Quidditch. Safiyah had never actually played the sport but she had heard a lot of people talk about it and it sounded like a lot of fun.

The respite in the argument came only when a kindly old lady pushing a trolley laden with food appeared and all four boys shut themselves with all kinds of sweets, most of which Safiyah had never even heard of. She herself bought a small stack of sugar quills; they were her favourite. Her brother would sometimes bring them home, if he hadn't spent all his money on fire-whiskey that is.

It wasn't long before the Safiyah began to drift off; the boys had lapsed into silence and quiet discussions amongst themselves and the thrumming of the train rocked her to sleep.

Her sleep was dreamless as far as she could tell and when she woke up, the sky outside had grown pitch black and in the distance the menacing roll of thunder could be heard. The sound of the thunder startled Safiyah and she felt a little bit colder.

The compartment was silent and most of the others were asleep, although Ant's eyes were still open as he leaned against the window. He saw Safiyah moving and smiled slightly at her. "Hey," he said. "It's Safiyah, right?"

"That's me," Safiyah answered.

"Listen, I'm sorry about earlier," he looked at the sleeping forms of Bhagat and 'Puce'. "Roger's a nice guy really; he's just not great at taking insults."

"It's ok," Safiyah answered. She noticed that they had all changed into their school things as well. "Are we close?"

"I don't know; I can't see anything. I saw mountains earlier and I know that Hogwarts is somewhere in the mountains, so we could be."

"Do you know a lot about Hogwarts?"

"I know a fair bit. Obviously you don't really know it until you're there, experiencing it for yourself. At least that's what my parents tell me. It's a lot of work, though, and I'm not the brightest, Roger's got the brains, but I'm hoping I'll be alright anyway. Both of my parents were in Gryffindor and that's where I'm hoping to be sorted. Do you know what house you want to go to?"

"Gryffindor as well," Safiyah answered. "But I don't think I will. Hufflepuff would be quite nice."

"Hufflepuff?" he asked and Safiyah could tell that he didn't think it was a great house.

"You know…" she said getting embarrassed. "Are your sisters in Gryffindor?" she asked trying to move the subject off of herself.

"How do you know about my sisters?" Ant asked, taken aback.

"You mentioned them when you were arguing," Safiyah answered, glad that her dark skin meant that her blush couldn't be seen.

"No, one is two years younger than me and the other is three years younger than her so they're not at Hogwarts yet. Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"Yeah, I have a brother. He works in Diagon Alley."

"What house was he in?"

Before Safiyah had to admit that her brother hadn't gone to Hogwarts the train brakes started to slow it down and everyone else in the compartment was woken up by the noise they were making. There was a kind of rumbling noise as everyone on the train started to open their compartment doors and head out into the corridors.

Finally the train juddered to a halt and the students spilled out onto the platform. Safiyah was about to go get her luggage when she saw that nobody else was and so she let herself get carried off by the crowd.

It had started raining at some point because when they reached the platform it wasn't long before they were completely drenched and shivering to boot.

The crowd seemed to be walking off to the right and Safiyah made to follow but over the sound of rain she heard someone shouting, "Firs' years! Firs' years get over here. Follow me voice." She struggled through the crowd towards the voice and when she saw the source she stopped dead in her tracks.

She was sure he must be a giant; no normal man could be that big, or that hairy for that matter. His face couldn't be seen through the dark and the rain but his outline could be seen in the dark and it was massive in every way. She knew he was hairy because when a flash of lightning lit up their world for a moment all she saw was a black messy tangle of intertwined hair and beard.

"Right, is that all of ye?" he asked but when no one replied he shrugged and bellowed one last time, "FIRS' YEARS TO ME!" The loud noise made Safiyah jump, in the same way that all loud noises did, as a few more people moved over towards the group. "Right you lot, follow me," he turned around and started heading in the opposite direction to the others. Even in the darkness he was easy to see as he was the biggest thing that moved in the general area.

The man led them along a path that wound through some kind of tall plant that Safiyah couldn't see. When they rounded a corner, however, there was only one thing that she _could_ look at. It was beautiful. It was magnificent. The lights glittered. They refracted through the raindrops. The stone towers rose proudly. The turrets silhouetted impressively against the dark backdrop. It was unbelievable. It was real. It was Hogwarts.

Safiyah was brought back to reality by a clap of thunder which nearly made her scream, but she was determined not to embarrass herself _before_ her first day. The giant-man was saying something about boats.

"Boats?" Safiyah muttered. She tore her eyes away from the castle and to her delight she saw a large black lake. Safiyah loved lakes; she didn't get to go very often, but when she did she would usually spend the entire time in the water.

Suddenly everyone started moving towards the boats. There was only room for about four people in each boat and Safiyah found herself with a tall thin blonde girl, a short boy with brown hair and a tall boy with brown hair and grey eyes.

None of them said anything to each other, Safiyah was too busy trying to contain her flood of feelings: excitement, anxiety and fear, whenever the thunder decided to make its presence heard.

The giant man had a boat entirely to himself and as soon as everyone had gotten into place, the boats started moving by themselves.

They were about halfway across the lake when Safiyah realised how cold it was. She clearly wasn't the only one who was cold as she could hear the blonde girl's teeth chattering.

As they drew closer and closer to the castle, which loomed taller and taller above them, no one said a word. They were all transfixed by the sight of the castle, whose magnificence only grew as they approached it. The rain was also growing and the fat droplets plopped satisfyingly into the water around them or landed with a muffled thud on the top of their heads. They were approaching the bank now and Safiyah was starting to wonder how they were going to get out of the boats without wading through the water. Although they were already so wet that she doubted it would make much difference; there was already an inch of water at the bottom of the boat.

As if to answer her question she heard the man leading their little convoy suddenly shouted, "Duck!"

All around her people started flattening themselves as best they could against the bottom of their boats. For a while nothing seemed to happen but when Safiyah looked up a second later she realised that they weren't underneath the storm clouds. Instead they were in a low-ceilinged cavern.

Thankfully, the boats seemed to know where they were going and it wasn't long before the boats were knocking against the side of a small stone pier. The giant man was already standing and he was obviously waiting for them to do the same, although the dim light that filled the place wasn't enough to see his face.

Carefully all of the first year clambered out of the boat. The boy with the brown hair offered Safiyah a hand to help her out of the boat which she took; he smiled at her and she nervously smiled back. "I'm Cedric," he said, smiling at her once she was on the pier.

"I'm Safiyah," she told him. "It's nice to meet you."

"Same to you. Are you excited?" he asked.

"I'm so excited, and also really nervous!" she answered. "I'm the first in my family to come here, see." Safiyah didn't normally open up so much to a stranger, but there was something about Cedric that made her feel comfortable.

Before Cedric could say anything else, however, the giant man was calling them to attention again. "Alright, everybody out of the boats?" he asked and there was a murmured noise of assent. "Foller me," he told them and he moved along the pier towards the wall where Safiyah could see a small door.

The huddle of wet and cold first years followed him, unfortunately Safiyah she was right in the middle of the group so she couldn't really see anything around her. After they had passed through the door they started climbing almost immediately and the stairs seemed endless.

Safiyah had long lost count, somewhere in the 200s when they finally stopped; her thighs were seriously sore.

Safiyah looked up and gasped; the ceiling was so high she couldn't even see it. On the patches of wall that she could see there were paintings opposite her she could see a large marble staircase that must lead up to the upper floors.

"I brought ye the firs' years," the giant man said.

"Thank you, Hagrid," Safiyah heard a Scottish woman's voice answer. There were heavy footsteps as Hagrid walked away. The woman must have told them to move because suddenly they were walking once again. This time when they walked through the door they were in a tiny room which seemed a bit small to be able to contain all of them.

There was a long pause and Safiyah had a feeling that they were being inspected. Eventually the woman spoke again, "Good evening. My name is Professor McGonagall, I am deputy headmistress here at Hogwarts and I am also head of Gryffindor house, into which a number of you will be sorted. The start of term feast will commence shortly but first there are a few things that I have to explain to you. When you enter the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. You cannot change houses, and while you are here it will be as a family for you. You will share dorms with your housemates, good deeds will earn you house points, whereas rule breaking will lose you points. At the end of the year the house with the most points wins the house cup. I think that's everything. I will go see if they are ready for you now; while I'm gone some of you might want to think about smartening yourself up."

There was silence for a moment and then Safiyah heard a door close. Immediately murmurs broke the silence and there was shuffling as people tried to make themselves look presentable or muttered to the person next to them. Safiyah, however, merely tugged at her long braid and looked at the ceiling.

Professor McGonagall must have returned because everyone suddenly fell silent. "The sorting will begin now."

Safiyah's throat had seemed to tighten and it was like her body suddenly didn't want to breathe anymore. She relaxed slightly when she saw that other people looked just as nervous as she felt. What didn't help was the thunder that decided to clap at that moment, which made her throat tighten again.

She closed her eyes and forced herself to take two deep breaths before opening her eyes again. Around her people had started moving again and she now found herself towards the back of the group, behind a tall girl with bright red hair that seemed to dance in the light.

It wasn't long before Safiyah found herself once again in the large Entrance Hall, but this time they did not stop. Instead, they moved across the room towards the sound of a few hundred people chattering. The prospect of having to be sorted in front of so many people did nothing to ease Safiyah's nerves; she didn't even know what she had to do.

"Relax, it's not that bad," said the boy called Cedric, who was now standing beside her again. "You just have to try on a hat."

"A hat?" Safiyah asked disbelievingly.

"It's not just a hat; it can talk and read minds too," Cedric grinned.

Safiyah wasn't entirely sure whether or not he was joking, but at that point the doors to the Great Hall opened and the forty or so first years fell silent. As they filed in Safiyah found herself on the edge of the column and she saw two long tables both of which had about sixty students sitting at them. All of them were staring at them.

Safiyah's legs started to wobble and she fixed her gaze on the shimmering red hair of the girl in front of her, but her gaze kept drifting to the left where the two tables were sat. A girl with short dark hair and snow-white skin caught her eye and gave her an encouraging smile. Safiyah took this as a good sign and kept marching along with the others.

Suddenly the column stopped and Safiyah nearly crashed into the girl in front of her. The girl who had smiled at her was now immediately to her left and she had to stop herself turning to stare at her.

Slowly the line started to inch forward again, it spread out and Safiyah found herself looking up at another table which was perpendicular to the others. Many wizards and witches were sat here, including the giant man who had led them from the train station to the castle. Even in the light you couldn't really see much more of his face as most of it was covered in a thick black scratchy beard. But the thing that stood out most was the golden throne – there was no other word for it – that was positioned in the middle of the table. Seated in this chair was a very old wizard with a long silver beard and equally long, equally silver hair; he was wearing magenta robes and a cerulean hat and his half-moon spectacles glinted in the light of the candles.

The candles! Safiyah had only just noticed the hundreds of candles that were floating above their heads illuminating most of the room.

At that point a woman walked to the platform in front of the staff table holding a stool and a very old and worn hat; so Cedric had been serious. "When I call your name," the woman began, and Safiyah recognised her voice from earlier, "you will come to the front and try on the hat, who will decide what house you'll be in. But first I think it has some words to say."

The hat straightened up and Safiyah could have sworn it coughed. Suddenly a rip near the brim widened and the hat was speaking. No, not speaking, singing.

"_A thousand years ago  
Though it feels like a day  
The founders had to go  
Yet I was told to stay  
To put you in your place  
And then your house decide  
Though I can't see your face  
What matters is inside  
Gryffindor's red and gold  
Could rouse the lion within  
Are you brave? Are you bold?  
If so then come on in  
Hufflepuff's yellow and black  
Could be where you'll find friends  
Who will always have your back  
Whose kindness never ends  
Ravenclaw's bronze and blue  
Could be the place you'll find  
Is most suited to you  
If you are sharp of mind  
Slytherin's silver and green  
Could be your life to be  
They are more than they seem  
They'll find your destiny  
So which could be for you  
Red, green, yellow or blue  
It's time to end my song  
And find where you belong._

There was a slight pause while everyone waited to see what the sorting hat would say next and then everyone burst into applause. Safiyah wasn't sure whether or not to join in but when she saw the boy next to her start clapping she joined in too.

When the applause died down Professor McGonagall stepped forward once again and unrolled a long piece of parchment. "Let the sorting begin!" she said before glancing at her parchment and calling out, "Adair, Louise."

From the crowd of first years, a hefty girl with waist-length chocolate-brown hair moved nervously towards where McGonagall was holding the hat. When she reached it she paused awkwardly and Safiyah heard a snigger coming from her right. McGonagall motioned for her to sit down and so Louise obediently sat on the stool. McGonagall placed the hat onto the girl's head and everyone in the room suddenly seemed to be holding their breath.

After about ten seconds the hat cried, "RAVENCLAW!"

Cheering broke out on the other side of the wall of first years and Louise took off the head and moved towards what Safiyah could only assume was the Ravenclaw table.

Penny Arbuthnot became the first Hufflepuff and Yatin Bhagat was the first Slytherin. Terry Blishwick was also sorted into Slytherin and Ant became the first Gryffindor. Roger Davies, on the other hand became a Ravenclaw. After about ten people the boy called Cedric was called out and eventually sorted into Hufflepuff. Nick M-C was also sorted into Hufflepuff and Safiyah found that she wanted to be sorted into Hufflepuff more and more.

Although, when Misty was sorted into Gryffindor she suddenly wasn't so sure anymore. The first years were getting sorted very quickly and Alicia Spinnet was now getting sorted into Gryffindor.

"Stimpson, Patricia!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Titilayo, Safiyah!"

There were only about eight people left to sort so it wasn't difficult for Safiyah to make her way forward. Or at least it shouldn't have been. She suddenly found that she was struggling to make her muscles work. There were so many people. They would all be looking at her! She didn't like strangers and she didn't like the thought of 400 of them staring at her.

"Titilayo, Safiyah!" Professor McGonagall called again and this time Safiyah made herself take step after step until she had reached the sorting hat. She kept her eyes on the floor a foot or so in front of her own feet and when she reached the stool she sat down quickly and had her eyes closed before the sorting hat had even been placed on her head.

"You took your time," sneered a little voice inside her head, which Safiyah eventually recognised as the sorting hat's.

"I'm sorry," she thought back at it.

"Anyway you do have an interesting mind, lots to discover here. There is a steel and loyalty about you which would be admired in both Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. A healthy supply of courage and you're very trustworthy. Not the most intelligent, but you are diligent."

"I'm not sure if that's a compliment or not," Safiyah thought, forgetting that the hat could hear her.

"Shush! I'm thinking. You're too quiet to be a Gryffindor, although they would like you there. I think you would have to be a HUFFLEPUFF!" The last word rang throughout the Great Hall and a cheering erupted. The hat was pulled off her head and she saw that it was the table where the girl with the perfect white skin had been sitting that was cheering. She headed over there and sat down near the end; beside her was Nick M-C who smiled friendlily at her and patted her on the back.

Now that her turn had passed the sorting seemed to go by much more quickly, and after Will Zornes had sat down opposite Safiyah, McGonagall picked up the hat and stool and took them away.

That was when Albus Dumbledore stood up and the entire room fell silent almost instantaneously.

"Firstly a very warm welcome to our new students and to our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher: Professor Lucretius Elmspike." The new teacher turned out to a wizened old man seated at one of the very far ends of the table who could barely stand when his name was called. "Secondly," Dumbledore continued, "welcome back to all our returning students and staff. I trust your holidays were far more relaxing than mine; dealing with a drunk banshee is no fun, I can tell you now." There was a ripple of laughter across the room and Safiyah wasn't sure if she should believe him or not.

"I had planned on giving a small speech on potatoes but I fear that Professor McGonagall might become a little short with me so instead I shall only say this about potatoes: try some, they are very good."

There was a round of applause and more laughter as Dumbledore sat down.

"What do you think he means?" Safiyah asked Nick who was sitting beside her.

"Isn't it obvious?" he answered.

Safiyah hesitated for a moment. "No."

Nick sighed and picked up his fork which he used to stab a roast potato and wave it in front of Safiyah's face.

"Oh, right. Wait, what?" Safiyah looked down at the table and realised that the golden platters were no longer simply sparkling; they were laden with various types of food, a lot of which Safiyah had never had before. "Wow," she muttered quietly.

Nick dropped the potato onto her plate before shovelling various kinds of meat, a large pile of chips and various sauces onto his own. Safiyah nibbled the potato, which was very nice, so she quickly ate the rest before spooning some roast chicken and parsnips onto her plate.

Safiyah didn't really join in the conversation that was going on around her. After introducing herself to Will Zornes she mostly stared at the food she was eating. Even when someone spoke to her she was usually too shy to answer with more than a few words or sentences as most.

Eventually the food disappeared from the platters and were replaced with various ice creams, cakes, creams, fruits, chocolates, mousses and other deserts.

Safiyah immediately grabbed a chocolate mousse and started to eat it happily. The desert for some reason put her into a slightly better mood and she started paying attention to the conversation that Nick, Will and Veronica – the girl with the flame red hair – were having.

"I'm not saying it's stupid to study Defence but shouldn't we also learn to fight fire with fire," Veronica was saying.

"But if everyone knew how to use the Dark Arts then wouldn't there be a lot more Dark Wizards around?" Will answered.

"Maybe but… we would understand them better."

"I think it would be quite cool to learn the Dark Arts, but Will's right too; it probably would mean a lot more dark wizards," Nick butted in.

"Fine," Veronica conceded. "I _am_ glad that they do teach Quidditch. Apparently the coach is amazing too. That's what I've been told anyway."

"How do you play Quidditch exactly?" Safiyah asked.

"Have you never flown before?" Veronica asked incredulously.

"I've flown once before; I've just never played Quidditch," Safiyah defended.

"Well it's really difficult to explain. There are loads of rules, see," Victoria started excitedly. "I'm not at actually very good at it, but I love playing and I'm a massive Wasps fan so I know all about it."

"Wimbourne? Seriously?" asked Nick.

"Till I die! Why? Don't tell me you're an Arrows fan?" Victoria asked.

"Till I die," mocked Nick. Victoria's hair appeared to grow redder before their eyes but Nick just kept staring at her.

Victoria tore her eyes away from Nick and looked pointedly back at Safiyah. "Anyway, there are four different balls: a snitch, a quaffle and two bludgers. The bludgers and snitch fly around by themselves. The bludgers try and knock people off their brooms and the snitch tries not to get caught. The quaffle on the other hand –"

"Shush," Nick hissed. Dumbledore had stood up.

"Well, what a lovely feast. Now I won't keep you long as I imagine you're all tired and want to go to bed so that you're ready for your lessons tomorrow. Mr Filch has just reminded me that I forgot to mention that the list of banned items is pinned up on his office door for all those who wish to know more about what they may or mayn't do. Now off to bed. No dilly, dallying."

There was a slight chuckle and then a loud scraping sound as eight very long benches were all slid back over the stone floor.

Safiyah had no idea where she was supposed to be going, and by the looks on their faces, neither did Will, Veronica or Nick. Looking further down the table, however, Safiyah saw that most of the other Hufflepuffs were moving towards them, or rather towards the staff table. Deciding that she might as well copy them, Safiyah started walking very slowly in the same direction. Eventually, she was overtaken by some upper years who knew exactly where they were going and so Safiyah followed them.

Just before they reached the staff table everyone turned into a little door that Safiyah hadn't even noticed which led into a low ceilinged corridor which didn't have any windows. She had to take a deep breath before following everyone but she realised she would have to go through at some point so she just followed everyone else.

Soon they came to a stop by a large stack of barrels. Someone in front of her tapped one of the barrels five times, but nothing happened.

"Oh no," he said and a second later some dark liquid fell from above and completely drenched the boy who had tapped the barrel.

Everyone around him laughed as he wriggled uncomfortably I his now wet clothes. "What's the hold up?" someone from behind Safiyah snapped.

"Tony got the wrong rhythm," one of Tony's friends answered.

"Typical."

"Sorry," Tony said.

"Just open it!" someone else called.

Tony tentatively reached out his hand and tapped five times on the barrel again. There was a slight pause and then the barrels parted revealing a small nook in the wall which Tony tugged opening a door that everyone piled through.

On the other side of the door was a round room, full of comfortable-looking yellow and black furniture as well as yellow drapes and copper lamps. There were also round windows visible all along the edges of the room through which not much could be seen except occasional lightning flashes, although Safiyah couldn't hear any thunder. Dotted around the room were several exotic plants that Safiyah had never seen before and there were two perfectly circular doors at opposite ends of the room.

"First years, get over here!" a girl shouted. Safiyah looked and saw the very white-skinned girl standing in the middle of the room. Safiyah and the nine other first years dutifully made their way over. "Okay, I'm tired so let's do this quickly and efficiently. My name is Marina Life, I'm in fifth year and one of the six Hufflepuff prefects. If you have any problems please feel free to talk to me or any of the other prefects or to Professor Sprout: our head of house. Right girls' dormitories through there," she pointed at one of the other circular doors, "and boys' dormitories through there," she pointed at the other one. "Good night." She walked off in the direction of the girls' dormitories.

After a slight pause the other girls followed while the boys made their way to their own dormitories.

Through the round door was an equally circular earthen tunnel. The girls moved down it and soon ended up at a fork. Above the entrance into each tunnel was a number; the one on the far right had the number 1 over it so the girls moved down that way and not long after found yet another round door.

It opened to reveal a round room with five four-poster beds arranged in a circle around the edges of the room. Safiyah spotted her trunk and moved towards the bed second on the left, which was covered by a patchwork quilt, each patch of which was an emblem of a tiny badger on a yellow background.

Suddenly feeling much more tired, Safiyah rummaged through her trunk for her night-dress and quickly changed. A second later she had clambered into bed and a second later she was sound asleep.

**A/N**

**I know it's been a while and I'm sorry, but I have exams going on (they finish next week) so I've been laid quite thin.**

**I'd actually planned to include a fair bit more, but it was already quite a long (and not particularly exciting) chapter, so I thought I would leave it where it is and add the rest to chapter four. Some of the later chapters don't have much planned in them so I can shunt a little bit further down the queue.**

**Please review**

**Love**

**When the clock strikes twelve**


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